This is about the things I see and wonder about or in which I find humor or human grace or may seem odd enough to be worth mention...

Friday, October 9, 2009

TRANQUILITY BASEThis is the place I will spend the next four nights or until it starts to rain. I arrived at Harris State Beach last night near dark thanks to some further discomfort of La Coachasita. She is having a rough trip. She is reasonably well now, still a lingering ignition issue which Lyle did not fully appreciate. His fix lasted two days and now there are new symptoms. I believe he was right in his fix, but that the problem is more severe. Until Tuesday, however, I am more worried about whether my bike tire will hold air and whether I will see the sunset.

Brookings, Oregon was the warm place in the state today, reaching 81 degrees. There is a strange wind that effects this place, much like the easterly flows from the mountains in California and it was blowing today and thus the temperature. It is part of the "Banana Belt" of Oregon because of its odd coastal location but lack of rainfall and tendency to be warmer than the rest of the state.

My favorite park in the state is named after an early Dutch settler, the literature tells me, but little more. It is in woods yet high on a bluff overlooking the surf and wonderful rocks of the coast. Orca whales are here, and while sightings are more common after rains, small pods occasionally appear near shore..

The Oregonians seem to have a sixth sense of when the weather will be good. After September 15th this is a first come, first served park. Some came on Wednesday to be first. I was so late last night I took what was left and hoped someone would pull out this morning. A few did and I was lucky enough to get a new spot I know gets full sun through from mid-morning through the afternoon. It is a quiet and peaceful place despite the full house crowd. The sites are large in the area I am in and well screened with wonderful shrubs. and tall conifers.

The forecast here is for good weather until late Monday when two days of some sort of rain will decide for me whether I leave to climb over the hill toward Medford, which will have less precipitation or simply wait until the later part of the week while doing some sight seeing and perhaps trying to find additional help for my companion. Brookingsis big enough to have a "Lyle type" in it and it may well be worth the trouble. I can say this has been an eventful trip so far, not all pleasant one's but all the people I have met have been pleasant and there have been a few characters worth remembering.

My next door neighbors are from near ReddingCalifornia and have been here two weeks. One of those weeks has been devoted to treating a sick dog who, according to the woman whose name I have yet to learn, "got a bad bone" from a lady at a gas station somewhere north of here and has been to the veterinary to treat an intestinal problem as a result. It is a wee thing of undistinguished breed. Whatever its's disability, it still knows how to bark now and then. It has a companion, slightly larger ,which seems to see it as her duty to shut the other one up. Tom, the male member of this fifth wheel tribe is a large quiet and kind man who showed up at my door about eight last night with left over pizza that he claimed he was incapable of eating. This park is like that. I have never met an unkind person here and it has a sense of community which, while not oppressive, can be helpful. I tossed my trash out front this morning to take it to the dumpster once the sun was full up and it was time to see the beach. A man I have never met walked by, picked it up and took it with his own. It is that sort of place.

So we are settled for the weekend.A bike trip to town for a a Sunday paper and some milk may happen on Sunday, otherwise I intend to finish reading a book, listen to ball games and perhaps indulge in a nap.

So, Houston, as it was once famously said, Tranquility Base, here, The Eagle has landed.